Radical Individualism-Part Seven
My Story

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We have shared some hard words about Radical Individualists and Radically Individualistic ministries. We have also shared on the need of unity among Christians and churches. Some may feel that we have overemphasized unity, others may feel we have been too hard on churches or ministries. I now share my own story and where God has taken me in my journey.

I have a burden for the unwanted, unlovely, cast outs of society–the lost, backslidden, and those who struggle in their walk with Jesus. These tend to be people who live radical lives and don’t like the status quo. Many times to reach these people you need to be radical and be willing to go to the ‘front lines’ of the battle to reach them. Often in most churches this violates the status quo. Passionate, radical people make leadership feel uncomfortable. So leadership is slow to release these people into ministry. So, those who want to reach the radically addicted and lost, will just go and ‘get the job done’ or they will not do much of anything but grumble and complain and waiting to be ‘released to do ministry’. They get caught up in conflicts instead of doing what God has called them to do.

There is nothing wrong with passion, enthusiasm, wanting to be on the front lines, ‘get the job done’ attitude, ‘going for it’. There needs to be many more with this attitude in the Body of Christ. The problem is that at times, this personality type will ‘run others over’, have pride, and will not work with others. They tend to ‘burn bridges’, cause unnecessary conflicts and only effective for short period of times and then go off to something more exciting. Or they unwillfully submit and do not accomplish anything. They just point the finger at others and grumble. They are not a team player. This describes how I have been in the past.

I have had a hard time to submit to leadership because it seems that only their agenda is important, so many times they are stuck on the status quo, or you have to be a ‘yes man’ to be used within the church. They are more concerned about their programs than reaching lost and hurting people. Because I believe the bible teaches submission to leadership, I have waited on the sidelines to be released to do what God has called me to do. In the process however, I have focused on the failures of leadership and missed many opportunities to minister to others. Instead of finding ways to touch lives through the ‘system’ I was in, I fought the ‘system’. My Radical Individualism prevented me from being used by God. I could only go so far in ministry and then there would be a block wall.

What came first? My Radical Individualism or the lack of passion in leadership towards the lost and hurting? It is immaterial what came first. The reality is that myself and the leadership both need to repent. This leads to The Rest of the Story, which we will share next time.

Copyright © 2002 Richard D. Dover. All rights reserved.
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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations used are from the New American Standard Version (NAS).

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